If you follow any internet marketing guru, they always say to segment your list. If you are new to email marketing and online business building you probably have no idea what they are talking about and how it relates to you.
Maybe you don’t even have an email list or your list has less than 50 people on it. Does email list segmentation apply to you if you have a brick-and-mortar business?
The bottom line is that if your offer doesn’t match the interest of your subscribers, you aren’t going to make sales. It doesn’t matter how good you think your program is or how cheap it is. When you promote a program to a group of people that you haven’t prequalified as interested you will likely be disappointed in the sales outcome.
In this blog post, I’m going to break down the concept of list segmentation, why you should segment your list before every promotion for both online and offline businesses, and why you must apply this simple technique to generate more sales, even if you have a list of 50 people.
Let’s start with a simple definition of list segmentation and how you can apply it to your offline or online business.
List Segmentation: Breaking your email list into smaller, more targeted groups so you can send tailored messages that match the direct interest of the smaller groups.
Let’s look at an example and how you can apply list segmentation in your business.
Example: Pre-qualify sales by segmenting your general email list prior to a launch or promotion.
Have you ever been asked to opt in for early bird notice or a special VIP spot? What about opting into a pre-launch sequence where 3 or 4 videos are delivered over several days?
Aside from offering incredible value for free, the early bird or pre-launch marketing tactic does one very important thing… it allows the business owner to create a segment of subscribers who are very interested in getting the promised offer.
When you opt in to an early bird offer you are saying, YES I’M INTERESTED AND WANT TO BE NOTIFIED. By opting in you are now on a dedicated email list that is specific to the early bird offer versus just being on the general email list.
The benefit of doing this is that you don’t over promote to your general email list who may not be that interested in the offer. Of course, you will still promote to them but you will promote more to the segment of your email list that has asked for more information.
Segmenting your email list prior to a launch will also give you a good indication of whether or not your email list even wants what you have to offer. If you put out an offer for early notice and no one from your email list opts in, then it’s time to go back to the drawing board to find out what programs your subscribers are actually interested in.
Follow these steps for your next program promotion:
1. Create an early bird offer (lower price or value-added bonus).
Using your email marketing platform, create a new email list and opt-in that is marked “early bird.” This will require you to create a new opt-in and content that promotes the benefit of registering for the early bird list.
2. Email your entire email list with your early bird promotion and include the link to sign up for the early bird notification.
When you email your list with the early bird promotion, make sure you create excitement around the early bird offer. List the added value that the early bird subscribers will receive.
3. Give an early bird deadline.
Create a sense of urgency by giving a deadline to register for the early bird list. Send out emails reminding your subscribers of the deadline 24 hours, 12 hours, and 1 hour before the deadline hits.
Give these steps a try the next time you run a promotion. Everyone wants to feel like a VIP. Get creative with your early bird notification subscribers. Provide extra value and make them feel like rock stars, then come back and comment below to tell me how your promotion went.
